The Masked Commander
by Bowman01
Summary: Dom, a quarian on Eden Prime for his pilgrimage, finds himself fighting Geth one day. After deciding to help two soldiers grieving over the loss of their commander to find an ancient Prothean artifact, he gets pulled along on a great adventure across the galaxy, meeting friends and enemies along the way.
1. Eden Prime

**Chapter 1**

 **Eden Prime**

I quickly crouched down to cover before I got shot: getting a suit rupture was not the best thing to do at the moment. Taking a deep breath, I peeked out from behind the crate to assess my surroundings.

A group of four synthetics, otherwise known as Geth, was shooting at my cover point. Three of them were using basic assault rifle while the last one, who was a little ways back behind the others, was holding a sniper, obviously peering through the scope with the intent of shooting me as soon as it could. I snapped my head back behind cover before hearing the sound of the sniper shot resonate through the air.

I knew I had to take them out quickly. _Thankfully,_ I thought with a smirk, _I'm not a bad shot._ I clasped my pistol to my waist and pulled out my faithful sniper rifle. Custom made, four rounds in the chamber, great for headshots, it had never let me down yet. Once again taking a deep breath, I quickly aimed above my cover, aiming for the synthetic sniper that had almost killed me before. As soon as I pulled the trigger, it's "head", so to speak, exploded, tainting the ground with the blue fluid that normally coursed through its body. Its headless corpse slumped to the floor and powered down.

I didn't have much time to savor my victory, however, as the other three Geth were still inbound. After magnetically snapping my rifle to my back, I pull out my pistol again, much better suited for closer combat. The synthetics were about twenty yards away and closing. They had to get closer for their assault rifles to actually hit me, yet my heart was still pounding. _Relax, Dom…It's easier than it seems. It's always easier._ Talking to myself always calms me down.

Now…just remember to aim.

 _The young quarian stood in awe in front of his father. They were in the main shooting range of the Rayya, usually filled with marines training or rowdy teenagers blowing off some steam before they left the ship for their Pilgrimage. However, that day in particular they were alone, just the two of them._

 _The older quarian, smirking under his facemask, lowered his still smoking sniper rifle._

 _"Would you look at that? Bullseye!" he chuckled, before turning towards his son. "Looks like it's your turn to wash the induction ports tonight, Dom!"_

 _"Hey!" Dom replied, faking indignation, "That wasn't the agreement! I thought you were going to teach me how to shoot. I only made that bet to lure you down here…"_

 _"Well, I just taught you how. See what I did? Well, that's how you shoot!"_

 _There was a moment of silence where neither boy nor father said anything. However, in that moment of silence, you could almost hear the older quarian weighing the pros and cons of teaching his ten-year-old son to shoot a gun. Finally, the father sighed._

 _"I mean, I guess a little hands-on experience never hurt anyone. But not with my sniper." He patted the gun at his side. "It's too advanced for now. Let's just start with a pistol."_

 _Unclasping the one at his side, he gave it to the young boy. Dom took it carefully, wanting to show his father that he was taking this seriously. He never pointed it at anyone and kept his fingers as far away from the trigger as possible. He wanted this chance and knew what to do to see it through._

 _"Alright," His father started saying as he stepped to the side, revealing the decommissioned synthetic they used as target practice, "Just step up to the stand and point it at the target. I'll correct you."_

 _Dom obliged, stepping closer to the target. Grasping the pistol tightly, he held it up to his facemask._

 _"Where should I aim?" he asked._

 _"The head. Aim for the head. It's harder to hit, but if your aim's good, it goes down fast."_

 _Dom gulped, and turned his attention back to the target. As he pointed the gun at the former synthetic's head, he felt a strong three-fingered hand on his forearms._

 _"Bend your arms a little more. Don't put it too close to your face: the recoil will break your mask. Always take into account the recoil…"_

 _His father finished adjusting his stance and stepped back._

 _"Alright. Now, there are three steps to shoot. Line up your shot…"_

 _The small quarian made sure his hands stopped quivering. Aiming down the sights, he saw that the bullet would go right through the deactivated Geth's "headlight" as soon as he pulled the trigger._

 _"…take a deep breath…"_

 _Dom gulped, but still managed to suck in enough air before expelling it, slowly and calmly._

 _"…and just pull the trigger and_ Fire."

The Geth went down easily. It's amazing how, even with how advanced their tech has gotten, it only takes a few pistol hits to obliterate their central core.

I just as easily took care of the closest one. In hindsight, I should have taken care of that one first, but I needed the challenge. After the second one went down, I vaulted out of cover, aiming at the final Geth-

Who was already on the ground, filled with holes. Bullet holes.

Before I had a chance to react, I felt myself getting lift up into the air. I let out a yelp of surprise as my pistol fell on the ground and I started levitating, surrounded by a blue glowing aura. That could only mean one thing…

"Well, look at this. If it isn't the suit-rat!"

…well, It could have only meant one thing, but _this_ wasn't what I expected.

Two humans came from the path leading away from the dig site: a biotic, who was the one holding me upside down at the moment, and a soldier, who's gun was pointed right at me, following my every move (which wasn't a lot, since I was currently immobile in mid-air). It was the latter who had spoken, hatred dripping from her every word, while the biotic stayed stoic, holding out his blue, glowing hand to keep me from falling.

Of course, I recognized the woman. Ashley Williams, an infamous soldier around the dig site. Most people avoided her for strange, military related reasons that I didn't bother to ask. I, however, avoided her because of the fact that I was an "alien", a quarian to be precise, and she did not like aliens. At all.

"Look, Ash…I kn-", I started explaining myself, but she cut me off.

"You don't call me Ash, _quarian!_ Only my friends can call me that!"

Ouch, she was mad. I guessed I should probably explain myself quickly, before a bullet passed through someone's skull.

"Fine… _Ashley…_ I know what conclusion your misguided, xenophobic mind came up with during this attack, but I have absolutely nothing to do with this!"

 _"Bullshit"_

I sighed: it won't be easy convincing her that I was innocent. Instead, I decided to talk to the man currently holding me captive several feet off the ground. _If he can't listen to reason, I'm screwed._

"Look…" I started saying weighing my words carefully. "I don't know what gunnery chief Williams over there has told you about me, but I'm not the one to blame, okay."

I smirked, seeing the look on the biotic's face. _Curiosity! The best way to get on a human's good side!_

"You know… I've been helping out on the dig site for a while now…and I haven't seen you before. What are you doing here?" _What? Curiosity isn't just a human thing._

The biotic considered my words for a second before gently putting me down. Ashley was still pointing her gun at me, but didn't do anything as I picked up my pistol and clasped it to my waist. I turned to face the other human, whose hand was still on his assault rifle. However, as he answered my previous question, he kept it pointed somewhere else, as a sign of peace.

"I'm Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, Alliance military." He had a formal tone that didn't really match up with his voice. His voice sounded like someone who could easily sit back and enjoy a beer instead of working, yet both his tone and posture showed that he was a no-nonsense military man, always ready to get the job done. "I was sent down here from the _Normandy_ to secure the Prothean beacon that was found here a while back."

 _Hang on… there's something bothering me here…_ "Wait, so they just sent you down here alone? Usually a successful ground team should have at least three people, right?"

I knew I had made a social faux-pas when he cast his eyes downwards. I remembered where we were: a battlefield. The landscape was burning, human bodies were everywhere, including impaled horrifically on those spikes.

"I was…sent down here with two others, along with a Turian Spectre" he started to say, a slight croak infecting his stoic voice. "We weren't expecting Geth down here, so we didn't really come as prepared as we should have. The Spectre went off on his own, leaving me with two of the Normandy's crew members…one of them being my commanding officer, Commander Shepard…"

He took a deep breath. I could tell that he was trying to keep his emotions in check, being a soldier and all, but it seemed like even the memory of what happened physically hurt him.

"The other soldier, Jenkins, was the first to go. We ran into a few Geth drones right next to the LZ. They…tore through his shields in a matter of seconds. He never stood a chance…"

He trailed off and hung his head slightly. Ashley took that as a queue to continue with the story.

"They ran into me in the middle of a giant firefight. My entire squad was already wiped out, so I didn't even dare to leave my cover. Suddenly, these biotic attacks just come out of nowhere and start decimating the 'bots. With the extra help, I managed to find higher ground, but…"

She, too, trailed off, haunted by the same memories that afflicted Kaiden. She even slightly lowered her rifle, still pointed at me.

"A…Geth Prime, one of those big ones, came out of nowhere with this laser gun and nailed Shepard right in the back….Her shields were fried almost instantly…"

"And all we could do was watch her go down…"

I could tell that Kaiden was, underneath his stoic, military façade, disturbed by the losses he had witnessed on the colony. _Keelah, I never was good in a serious situation like this._ I mostly preferred being the jokester, getting into trouble and having a laugh about it afterwards.

That didn't mean that I wasn't going to try to comfort him…in the only way you _can_ truly comfort a soldier. "Well, Kaiden, I guess you know what to do…"

Smirking at the quizzical look on both his and Ashley's faces, I took my sniper rifle from my back and posed heroically, just like those human action vids Powell had shown me.

"How about I help you finish what they started?"

…

"Absolutely not!"

It wasn't Ashley who said this, though. It was Kaiden. He was now holding on to his rifle in the same way Ashley was, a frown on his face. I opened my mouth to protest, but he beat me to the punch.

"You're a civilian, you're young and you've probably got no military training whatsoever. You can't be a burden to the mission. You're staying here and getting to the evacuation shuttles when they get here, got it?"

 _Huh, "no military training"…shows what he knows…_

"I've survived up until now; I can take care of myself.", I retorted, clutching my sniper rifle. "Plus, I know my way around the colony, considering how long I've been here. You guys need more firepower, anyways! You can't fight off a Geth army with just two people!"

Ashley decided to step in at this point

"Look, he said no! You're staying here, got it? We don't know how you fight. We don't even know if you know how to shoot!"

I was about to fire back, when a crackling sound behind me caught my attention, making me whip around to see what it was. Two giant spikes, radiating a strange blue energy, were retracting back into their base. Impaled on the Spikes were two humanoid figures, radiating with the same light as the spikes.

Suddenly, blue electricity burst from the corpses' chests. The husks convulsed erratically for a few seconds, before hopping off the spikes and, with a snarl, running in our direction, arm stretched out, ready to latch on to the first life form they laid their hands on.

I glanced back at the two humans, who seemed to be in a state of shock. Of course, they were soldiers, but they weren't without emotions or morals and I guessed that shooting their former comrades' dead bodies fell on the other side of their moral line. Turning back to face the husks, I dropped my rifle and unclasped my pistol once more. I fired right at the first husk's head, incapacitating it instantly. The second one, however, was already way too close for comfort. It was only a few feet away from me when it starting glowing brightly, the same color that had been abundant since the beginning of our encounter. Before it could react, however, I quickly smashed in its head with the butt of my pistol, watching it slump down on the ground and not get up again.

I took a deep breath and put away my pistol. I picked up my sniper rifle and brushed some extra dirt off of it before turning towards Ashley and Kaiden, who hadn't done anything during my fight with the husks. Ashley's gun was still pointed in my direction, but her face showed the shock she was experiencing after witnessing my skill. Kaiden, on the other hand, started chuckling after the shock had worn off, showing a rare bit of emotion. I couldn't help but give them a little smile as well.

"Come on," I said, beckoning them to follow me. "The Beacon was taken to the Starport down that way." I paused for a second. "I was going over there to check on a friend, anyways, so we'll still be going in the same direction."

* * *

I started walking towards the Spaceport, Kaiden and Ashley behind me, guns at the ready. Under my helmet, I smirked once more. _Even if I don't get anything from this,_ I thought to myself, _at least I'll have an interesting story to tell when I get back to the flotilla._

I frowned. _I still wonder why the Geth are attacking a human colony. They usually don't go beyond the Perseus veil, at least not in groups of this size._

I looked back at my companions worryingly. _Could it be that beacon the humans dug up? What would the Geth want with a dead protean artifact?_

We kept on walking through the now dead wasteland that was once a beautiful flourishing colony. I remember when I had first set foot on Eden Prime, a month or two ago, I thought it was paradise. Even though humanity had defaced it in some areas, the gorgeous alien vegetation had taken my breath away. Now, however, the landscape was in flames. We kept on passing dead corpses, both husked and not. I averted my eyes every single time, as if not acknowledging them would make them go away. I kept glancing at the two soldiers behind me. They seemed calm enough, given the circumstances, yet I could still see that they were as disturbed about the bodies as I was.

 _Looks like I'm not the only one with a mask._ I thought with a smile.

Suddenly, a single lone gunshot tore me away from my thoughts, making me flinch. I looked back at my temporary teammates, giving them a sign that I had also heard it.

"What do you guys think that was?" I asked.

"Well, obviously it was a gunshot, genius!" Ashley quickly quipped, before casting her eyes down in thought. "However, telling from who it comes from, enemy or survivor, is the real question…"

"If it were a survivor, we probably would have heard more gunshots…", rationalized Kaiden, before turning towards me. "It came from the same direction we're headed. Is the Spaceport far?"

"No, just a few hundred meters." I replied, seeing what Kaiden was insinuating.

"In that case, I think we should go and investigate the gunshot as well. We could find either vital information or an extra ally…"

"Or both" I nodded, before motioning the others to keep on going. As they kept on following me, I noticed that they hadn't stopped me from telling them when to follow me or not. _Maybe they're just used to following orders, since they're soldiers._

After a bit more walking, we came across the Spaceport. A few Geth were patrolling between the crates. Some others were checking husks impaled on more of those large spikes. I made a quick motion for Ashley and Kaiden to stop, before I faced them in order to strategize.

"Okay, there's a group of about eight Geth guarding the Spaceport, as well as two or three Husks. What do you guys propose we do?"

Kaiden thought for a bit, glancing several times at the future battlefield, before answering. "I think that if two of us can sneak to those crates over there, we can use those positions to easily massacre the enemy…"He paused… "The real problem, though, will be the Husks…"

I looked back at the Spaceport, examining the two positions Kaiden had pointed out. They were each on opposite sides of the port, with the Gath forces in the middle. One of them was up against a wall, but the other was right next to two of the spikes, who would surely unleash the Husks as soon as someone got near them….Unless…

"Hang on a minute!" Ashley interjected, "We still have to figure out _how_ we can get to cover without getting shot at. Even if we try to sprint there, the Geth will notice us and shoot at us as soon as we're out in the open."

Even if I didn't always agree with her, she was right. If anyone tried to run for it, the Geth would easily obliterate them…unless…

Suddenly, it clicked. "Guys!" I exclaimed, grabbing their attention. "I've got it! One of us can stay up here and distract the Geth, while the other two get to the cover positions."

I smiled as Kaiden furrowed his brow and Ashley put a finger to her chin, thinking over my proposition. I decided that elaboration would be best.

"Trust me: I know quite a bit about their programming. They'll always focus on the immediate threat. That means that if someone's shooting at them from up here, they'll be focused on the shooter and not notice if two people sneak up on either side until it's too late!"

"Yeah…" Ashley admitted, "It could help that we have the element of surprise."

"What should we do about the Husks then?" Kaiden asked.

"Simple." I answered, trying not to sound too smug. "After the two shooters have drawn the Geth's attention, the distraction can concentrate on the Husks. After all, that person will no longer be the immediate threat."

I glanced between the two of them, trying to decipher their reactions. Kaiden was leaning over, stealing a couple of glances at the enemies while he thought. Ashley was counting something on her fingers, muttering the plan back to herself. Finally, they both turned back towards me.

"It seems like that's the best option." Kaiden said.

"Yeah…now we just need to decide who takes what role…"

Ashley raised a good point. I looked at the other's weapons. Kaiden had an assault rifle and a pistol, while Ashley had the same, as well as a shotgun. I looked back at the sniper rifle slung over my back and decided to voice my opinion.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think that you two should go in, while I stay up here as the distraction."

I could tell that Ashley wasn't so keen to go along with the plan, but before she could speak up, a stern look from Kaiden made her look down at the ground and frown.

"Yeah, you seem like the one best suited for the job." Kaiden rationalized. "After all, you've got a sniper rifle."

"Plus," I mentioned, "The Geth might be keener on attacking me first, since I'm a quarian."

The biotic nodded, before reading his sniper rifle. Ashley was still visibly frowning, but cocked her shotgun anyways. I took my sniper rifle from my back, as well as a pouch I had tied around my waist. Kaiden saw it and raised an eyebrow. _Hehe… He always looks rather surprised, no matter what I pull out. I guess that, out of all the curious humans, he's the most curious._

I opened up the pouch to show him its contents.

"Thermal clips." I explained, pulling one out so that he could see. "Specially designed for my rifle. It cools it down faster. If you're quick, that is."

He nodded, before turning back to his own weapon. I made a mental note to tell him more about it later, since he seemed interested.

"Alright…you guys ready?" I asked, getting two affirmative nods in return. I nodded back, before pulling out my rifle's current thermal clip, replacing it nimbly with a fresh one. I put the used cartridge in my pocket, thus salvaging it for later.

With a swift, practiced motion, I raised my rifle, closing one eye and peering through the scope. I was in position, ready to shoot at the Geth trooper down below. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kaiden crouch down low, his own rifle at the ready too. He glanced over at me and at Ashley, who was to my right.

"Okay then." He said, "Start shooting on the count of three…"

I nodded and looked through the scope again, lining up my shot with the synthetic's head.

"One…"

My finger crept down to the trigger, already itching to pull back.

"Two"

I took a deep breath and held it for the last second of the countdown.

"Three!"

I pulled the trigger, delivering a powerful shot to the Geth's head. It crumpled immediately. Like clockwork, the other Geth turned towards us and started bombarding me with shots. I fired another shot, which went through another Geth's chest, before ducking behind a tree. One glance back at the battlefield informed me that my two companions were already sprinting towards the positions. All I had to do was distract the Geth for a few more seconds.

Like an action hero, I whipped around the tree, barely aiming, and fired. My shot impacted the ground near one of the Geth trooper's feet, but that last shot was all that was needed. Kaiden and Ashley were in position, firing at the synthetic troopers mercilessly. One by one, the Geth fell. Those who were still up had completely forgotten about me and were now scrambling for cover, ready to face this new unexpected foe. I nodded, proud of our strategy, before doing a quick double-take: I had forgotten about the husks!

There were two of them. They had already descended from their spikes and were closing in on Ashley, who was still firing into the large group of Geth. I rushed forwards, raising my rifle once more. Quickly, I fired at one of the Husk's heads, making it fall sideways onto the ground. The other Husk turned towards me and started rushing in my direction. I smirked: this one will be easy. I pointed at the rusher's head once more and pulled the trigger.

 _Click._

I was empty. My rifle had overheated and needed a new thermal clip, but I didn't have time to put it in before the Husk reached me.

"Oh Dom, you Bosh'tet!" I chastised myself, throwing my rifle to the side and pulling out my pistol. The Husk was too close for me to react, however, and jumped on top of my before I could pull the trigger. I grunted in pain as my back hit the ground. The Husks nails were digging into my suit, chipping away at the fiber. I had to think fast before the creature ruptured my suit, leaving me to die of an infection on the battlefield. I had never wanted to die in battle, after all.

I brought my free arm to the Husk's neck. Then, pushing off the ground, I overturned the Husk, pinning it under my elbow. It continued to try to attack my, thrashing and biting the air savagely. I quickly grabbed my pistol from the ground, where it had fallen when the Husk had attacked me, and brought it to the monster's temple, firing it without a second thought. The Husk went limp almost instantly, allowing me to stand up and assess the damage. Only minor scratches on my suit.

 _Thank the Homeworld!_ I thought to myself, starting to grin. _The Husk only took some fibers off my right shoulder._ Smiling to myself for my luck, I bent down and picked up my rifle. _I really need to stop dropping this thing…_

I noticed that there were no gunshots anymore. Looking over at the Spaceport, I saw that all the Geth were on the ground, having left their platforms thanks to the intervention of my two temporary teammates and their own guns. I shifted my gaze towards the bridge on the other side of the crates to see Kaiden crouched over a corpse over on the bridge leading to the train cars. Ashley was talking to someone behind a big stack of crates, frowning the entire way.

I started jogging over to see what was wrong. As I got closer, I was able to see that the corpse Kaiden was examining was unmistakably that of a Turian. His reptilian face sported white paint marks, a clear sign of one of the Turian families. _That must be the Spectre Kaiden and his commander came with._

I stopped jogging when I reached the crates. Ashley stopped whatever she was doing and turned to face me.

"Oh, quarian." She absentmindedly said, as if she had other things on her mind. "Looks like you dealt with that Husk." I noticed that she wasn't looking me in the eye. In fact, I could have sworn I saw her gaze flit down to my right shoulder, the one that had suffered minor damage in my battle with the Husk, before quickly settling on my nose. _She probably can't tell where my eyes are under my mask,_ I thought.

"You know", I raised my voice, succumbing to anger. "I did kind of save your life back there. A simple 'thank you' would at least be polite." _Also, she could have jumped in and helped me when she saw I was in trouble, but if I say that I'll seem selfish._

"Oh, Boo-hoo. Cry me a river, alien. At least you didn't just see your entire squad get wiped out in a single afternoon!" She was yelling now. Her gun was shaking in her hands as she stepped closer.

"I'm a soldier. I can handle this stuff. I don't need a civilian like you saving my life like I'm some fairy-tale princess, got that?" I opened my mouth to retort, but she didn't stop. "Human soldiers are here to defend Earth and our colonies from animals like you and we don't expect any thanks for it. So don't presume I'll get down on my knees and thank you just because you did your fucking job!"

"Chief, that's enough" Kaiden came over, sternly stopping the angry marine before she could continue. Ashley started to protest, but closed her mouth when her eyes met with the Lieutenant's. She backed away and stowed her gun behind her back, where it magnetized to her pink and white armor. I was still in shock from Ashley's breakdown that I barely noticed the person she was talking to behind the crates until I heard a nervous, yet familiar cough come from my right.

I turned to see a middle-aged man wearing dock-worker garbs as well as a green beanie. He was nervously looking between Ashley, who was now leaning against one of the crates, glaring at both Kaiden and I, and the Lieutenant. I instantly recognized the man. He was the friend I had come over to help.

"Powell!" I exclaimed! "I can't believe you're still alive!"

Powell's eyes widened as her looked at me in turn. "Dom!" He cried out as well, voice still shaking. "I-is that really you?"

 _Keelah,_ I thought, _he seems like he has, in his own words, "seen some shit"._ I decided to act as my usual joking self to calm him down.

"Of course it is!" I answered. "There aren't any other quarians walking around Eden Prime, are there?" As if to prove a point, I gestured around at the previously utopic scenery.

Ashley scoffed, earning her a glare from Kaiden. He faced Powell again and asked: "Were you here since the start of the attack?"

Powell looked down at the ground again, before answering. "Y-yes. I was behind the crates since morning. Those…things just came out of nowhere and started shooting people left and right." He looked around paranoically, as if it could happen again at any moment. "I don't keep a weapon back here, so I wouldn't have been able to defend myself if they had found me!" He looked at us again. "I'm j-just glad I'm still alive."

I smiled at him. "You and me both, buddy!" I glanced over at the dead body that Kaiden was examining earlier. I had a bad feeling looking at it, as if someone took off my suit and poured a glass of ice cold water down my spine. I frowned. _If that gunshot we heard wasn't Powell, nor the Geth, then what was it?_

"Is that the Spectre you came with, Lieutenant?" I asked Kaiden. He nodded. I then turned towards Powell again.

"Did you see what happened to the Turian over there? Was he ambushed by Geth?" I asked.

Powell hesitated for a few seconds, trying to remember. His voice was dry when he finally spoke.

"N-no. He came down to the docks on his own. Seemed to be looking around for something."

I turned towards Kaiden. "The Beacon, probably." The Biotic nodded.

"Yeah," Powell continued, "He probably didn't know that we moved the Beacon to the other side with the train cars." He pointed over to some facilities a few miles away. That was where most of the dig site's residence quarters were, as well as the offices and power generator. You get there by riding the cargo trains for a few minutes. "We moved it about 2-3 hours before the attack."

I nodded. "But what about Nihlus?" Kaiden asked. I supposed that that was the name of the dead Spectre. "Why did we find him dead when we got here?"

"Well, after he looked through the computer terminal over there," He pointed to a terminal a few feet away. It was charred and burned, defiantly unusable. "Another Turian came out of nowhere."

That peaked my interest. "Another Turian?" I asked. "Where did he come from?"

"I don't know…" My friend shrugged. "He just stepped out from behind a crate and started talking to the Spectre." He paused for a second. "I think they knew each-other…"

I didn't realize it, but I was gripping the edge of the crate tightly. _No, come on…_ I tried to convince myself. _He should be dead by now. Or at least punished by the Council, right?_ Kaiden must have noticed my stress, because he was the one who continued the interrogation.

"Did the new Turian have any distinguishing features, like an abnormal fringe, or distinct face paint?"

Powell thought once again for a few seconds before answering. "Well, his fringe did seem a big worn. Also, unlike most turians I've seen, his skin color was grey with more of a…um…" He struggled to find the right word. "B-blue-ish tint…" My head, which had been hanging slightly out of contemplation, sprung up out of interest as my eyes opened in horror.

 _No!_ I panicked in my head, my heart beating rapidly. _It…can't be him…_

 _The young quarian looked up from his spot on the ground, covered in soot, to see a pair of blue, emotionless eyes staring down at him. It was a grey Turian, a species that Dom had never seen before. All he did was stare at the tiny, defenseless child. Dom needed to muster up the courage to speak._

I slammed my fists down on the crate, startling everyone there, including Kaiden, who was still pressing Powell for more information, and Ashley actually unfolded her arms as all three of them stared at me in shock. I didn't care: I needed to know who that Turian was.

My eyes bored into Powell, who had started quivering again. "You said earlier that you had the impression that they knew each other." I asked. "What made you think that?"

"Um…" Powell wasn't sure exactly how to respond, but he quickly composed himself. "Well, they knew each-other's names. I think they might have both been Spectres."

This was getting bad. I knew that the other Turian could have only been one person. _But wait…there's a bunch of Turian Spectres, right? Maybe it's not the one I'm thinking of…_

"Did the Spectre say anything when this other Turian appeared?" Kaiden asked. Powell nodded in response.

"Yeah. Well, not at first. When the other Turian first started talking, he turned around quickly and raised his gun. But then, he recognized him, so he lowered his pistol and said…"

 _"…I wasn't expecting you here." Nihlus explained himself to the grey Turian. Nihlus was a brown-skinned turian with white face paint around his eyes and on his nose and cheeks. He placed his pistol on a crate next to him and turned back towards the control panel monitor, tapping on various keys in order to find what he was here for. That didn't stop him from conversing with the new arrival, however._

 _"My guess is that the Council has sent you over to assist me in securing the Beacon, correct?" The Spectre asked, not seeing the nod from his collegue._

 _"Yes, that is correct." The menacing figure responded. "They had thought you might need some…help."_

 _The Turian on the terminal chuckled. "As much as I hate to admit it, I do." He stopped talking for a second to type in some more commands, finally pulling up what he was looking for on the screen. "Here we go! The Beacon was moved a few hours ago to the northern facilities!" He closed the terminal and brought his arm to his mouth. "Commander Shepard, come in! I've located the whereabouts of the Beacon, do you copy?"_

 _He waited a few seconds, where he only heard static in his receiver. He sighed before putting down his arm and turned towards the other Turian, who had only been staring at him this entire time._

 _"I've got an Alliance team who landed with me back some ways. The Geth must be blocking our radio signal." Nihlus sighed again, before turning his back on the grey Turian._

 _"This is a mess, my friend. Geth outside the Persues Veil! An attack on a flourishing human colony just a few days after the discovery of an ancient Protean artifact!" He turned back to face the other Spectre. "Do you know what that Beacon can do to help further Turian-Human relations? It will be a sign of the advancement of mankind into the stars."_

 _The Grey Turian scoffed "Weather they have earned it or not is still debatable." This made Nihlus groan as he turned around to face the horizon again._

 _"Even if you're against it, you can't deny that the humans are strong. Their Military, their culture, their natural resilience…." He paused. "Then again, you can't speak up either way. You're under orders to secure the beacon, no matter what that entails."_

 _While the brown Turian was busy looking over to the other side, the other one had picked up the pistol Nihlus had left on the crate. Silently, he inched closer to his collegue._

 _"That's right…" the Spectre said, pointing the gun at the other Spectre's back, who was oblivious to the Grey one's movements. "I have to follow my orders…"_

 _He pulled the trigger._

Powell had to stop for a few extra seconds. He was breathing pretty loudly at this point. I took this opportunity to talk to Kaiden.

"Is the Beacon really that important?" I asked. I got a nod in return.

"With that Beacon, Humanity can show that we have the right resources, smarts and strength to be a remarkable ally and asset in the galactic community." He explained, before actually cracking a small smile. "I've heard that it might even be possible to get a seat on the Council thanks to this!"

I nodded, showing that I understood. _Humans getting a seat on the council in less than a century…_ I asked myself if that really was possible. _Probably just wishful thinking…_

"But what about the other Spectre?" Ashley asked Powell, breaking my train of thought.

Pointing at the Geth platforms that we had previously taken care of, Powell answered. "Those Geth came out the same way he did. He told them to guard the port while he went looking for the Beacon. Then he took a train to the other side. You guys showed up just a few minutes later."

Kaiden frowned at this new information while Ashley's face turned red with fury. "Fuck!" She yelled. "The grey lizard is working with the Geth! And he's after the Beacon as well!" She stormed off, probably going to calm down before we went after that slimy back-stabbing Spectre.

Kaiden made to go after her, but I put out my arm. "Hang on!" I started reasoning with him. "If this guy's a Spctre, then we can denounce him to the council." I turned back to face Powell. "You said that Nihlus knew the other guy's name. Can you tell us what it was?"

I expected Powell to start trembling again, as if he could barely prounounce the horrible name. He only put his five-fingered hand up to his chin, stroking his beard as he tried to remember. I myself was growing terribly anxious. _Is it really him? Has he stumbled into my life again? Is he the cause of yet another disaster?_

Finally, Powell answered. "I think I remember the Spectre saying his name was Saren."

* * *

 **It is done! Finally! I've been working on this story for a while. I got the idea back in April and started writing in May. Now, after several weeks of being distracted by other work, writing and rewriting, I'm finally done with one of my most ambitious projects ever!**

 **The Masked Commander**

 **This is going to be a sort of retelling of the original Mass Effect trilogy, but with a few twists. First off, I am going to be writing it by memory. I am not going to take any dialogue word for word from the games. Also, the characterization of the main characters will be how I perceive them, not how the games characterize them. For example, you saw how Ashley was a bit more bitchy than she was in the games and Kaiden was a bit more stern and stuck-up. That's just how I've always perceived them.**

 **The main difference, however, is the main character. No Shepard here: she's gone! Instead, we've got a Quarian. It couldn't have been anybody else, in my opinion. You'll learn more about him as the story goes on, but all of the cruical pieces are already in place for you to tell what kind of guy he is.**

 **Anyways, that's it for this little Author's Note. I have no promises as to when the next chapter's coming out, so just hang tight, alright?**

 **Next time:**

 **Our hero, along with Kaiden and Ashley, pursue the rogue Spectre by train. A rather explosive surprise from the Geth, however, slows them down a bit. Will they finally get to the Beacon and get off of Eden Prime? Is Ashley ever going to lighten up? What about Powell, will he make it out alive? Those questions will be answered in the Next Chapter!  
**

 **The Masked Commander**


	2. The Beacon

**Chapter 2**

 **The Beacon**

 _"Saren?" Dom asked his father. Both of them were walking down the halls of the Rayya, coming back from their daily shooting practice._

 _Dom had been learning well, having recently upgraded from a pistol to his father's sniper rifle. As it turned out, he was a natural, in part thanks to the teachings of his old man._

 _His father nodded. "Odd name, right? Apparently he's a Turian Spectre sent by the council to check...well, I don't know the details yet." He looked at his son. "That's why I'm going to meet him with Admiral Zorah. As Chief Military advisor, he'll want my input as well."_

 _He said that last part wistfully, as if old memories were resurfacing. After a few seconds, Don decided to speak._

 _"Tali says that her father can get you a position in the Marines again, if you really want to go fight again."_

 _The older Quarian sighed. "Yeah, he already offered me the position. I've been turning them down for thirteen years, you know..."_

 _Dom was quiet for a few seconds, before asking a question that had been floating around in his head for a while. "Why did you quit after Mom died?"_

 _His father stopped in his tracks, making his son stop a few steps later. The son turned back to see his father staring right at him. Yet somehow he knew that under his mask his eyes were glazed over, thinking._

 _After a bit, the Father's Omni-tool started beeping. He snapped back to reality and checked his wrist. He faced his son again._

 _"Okay, Dom, I've got to go. You know the rest of the way to Raan's place, right?" He asked._

 _When his son nodded, he turned to leave, before hesitating. Quickly, he walked towards Dom, wrapped his arms around him and whispered, "It's always great to spend time with you." He then got up and, with a little wave, walked down the ship's corridor._

 _Before disappearing around the corner, he yelled "Don't get into any trouble!", making his son giggle._

 _"You know me!" Son yelled back, chuckling when he heard his father's voice shout "Exactly!"_

 _Smiling broadly, the teenage quarian turned and skipped in the opposite direction, also disappearing around the corner._

I zoned out, memories of the Rayya and my father resurfacing. _Why?_ I asked myself. _Why is that damn Turian coming back into my life?_

"Hey, Dom, are you okay?" Powell snapped me out of my reverie. I looked up to see him and Kaiden looking at me, concerned. Ashley was already on the train, probably prepping her weapons or something.

I shook my head, more to get focused than as a response my friend's concern. "Don't worry, I'm fine." I turned to Kaiden, feeling a fire ignite inside me. "So are we going to chase after the Turian?" I asked, barely hiding my fury.

Kaiden didn't seem to notice as he replied. "Well, our mission is to secure the beacon. As such, we need to make sure Saren doesn't get it first." With a small smirk, he added. "Normally I'd say this is where we part ways, but you've helped us this much already, so we'd might as well bring you along till the end."

I let out a small chuckle. "I'd be glad to keep helping the Alliance, Kaiden." I shrugged. "After all, they allowed me to stay here nine months basically for free, so I _do_ owe them at least a priceless protean artifact."

Kaiden nodded. "I'm glad to have you on board. Plus, if you're lucky, the captain might let you evacuate on the _Normandy."_ He said, before facing Powell. "As for you, Ashley and I passed some scientists holding up near the dig site. Just knock and say you're human and they'll let you in."

Powell nodded, but as Kaiden turned to leave he yelled. "Wait! How am I supposed to defend myself if more of those robots attack me?"

One glance at Kaiden was all I needed to know that there were no more Geth that way. But I felt myself itching to go after Saren as soon as possible and a useless debate would just end up wasting time.

I took my pistol off my belt and held it out towards Powell. "Here. Just aim for the head and always take into account the recoil, okay?"

Powell hesitantly took the gun and held in his hand, examining it like a work of art, speechless. After a while, he clasped it to his own belt and turned to me.

"I...I don't know what to say..." He said, a smile slowly creeping its way back on his face.

I just smirked and said. "Don't mention it. I've got a spare anyways." I held my hand out, signaling the weird human motion that Powell had taught me the first time we met. "Thanks for being a great friend during my stay here."

Powell smiled, grasping my hand. "It's no problem. Good luck with the mission as well as the rest of your pilgrimage!" He shook my hand up and down while I tried to imitate the alien motion. _I need to practice this "handshake" thing a bit more._

Finally, he let go and, with a nod, started jogging back the way we came, finally disappearing out of sight behind the trees I had used for cover.

Content, I faced Kaiden, signaling that I was ready to leave. He nodded and we both made our way towards the train, where Ashley was fiddling with the control panel, eager to run after Saren.

I shuddered when I thought of that name. Saren, a name that has sent shivers down my spine since the first time I heard it. He didn't seem like a nice guy to begin with, but after a while I realized that he was much more than a shady Spectre.

He was a true monster.

"That was a nice move." I turned my head to see Kaiden looking right at me, pensively. _Apparently, he's still trying to decifer what kind of person I am._ "What you did back there. It saved us a lot of time."

"Well," I replied, "It had to be done. Plus, I owed him one. He taught me a lot about human customs and culture during my stay here. I had to repay him, right?"

Kaiden nodded. "Yeah, I had the impression you two knew each-other. Which reminds me…" He stepped foot on the train first, then turned to face me. "You haven't exactly introduced yourself yet…"

Internally, I felt myself face-palm. Granted, we were in the middle of a war zone, fighting Geth left and right, but I had forgotten to tell the two soldiers that had been fighting alongside me this entire time my own name.

"Oh, sorry!" I quickly stammered, stepping on the train myself. "My name is Dom'Quijot nar Rayya, but I find it's much easier if people call me Dom."

I caught Kaiden actually stifle a snicker, which intrigued me. Kaiden must have felt my gaze, because he quickly switched back to his now trademarked stoic expression.

"Sorry", he apologized. "It's just that your name reminds me of an old tale from Earth." Now that was something the piqued my interest. I had always been curious of other species and their cultures, making me absorb every information I could find like a sponge.

"Do tell…" I nudged as we started walking to the front of the train. "We have time: it'll take a bit for the train to get there anyways-"

As soon as I said that, a loud banging sound got my attention from the front of the train. Both Kaiden and I rushed over to find Ashley bashing the controls loudly, yelling obscenities.

"Fucking piece of sh-"

She paused, then turned to face us, silently fuming. Kaiden decided to speak first.

"What's the problem here, Chief?" he asked.

Ashley, who was red with frustration and fury, gestured towards the train's control panel. "Those damn 'bots must have blocked access: I can't turn it on."

I glanced over her shoulder at the panel. It was human technology, of course, but it wasn't that foreign to me, especially considering I had spent nine months around this kind of tech. Even from where I was I could see the error sign that Ashley was infuriated about flash on and off on the screen. _Well, I'd have to take a closer look,_ I quickly analyzed the error I was seeing, _but from here it seems like a data overload, which is…_

I snorted, moving in front of the panel myself. Ashley and Kaiden looked at me quizzically when I lifted up my left arm and opened up my Omni-Tool. I decided to explain while I fixed the problem.

"The Geth tried to impede our progress by injecting random codes into the train controls, thus overloading admittedly pretty basic Data core." I explained while wirelessly connecting my Omni-Tool to the control's interface. After succeeding, I expertly started typing in a code in order to reverse the Geth's defenses.

"Here's something funny though." I continued, now ridding the panel's memory banks of the unwanted data. "The Geth were sloppy. They only injected raw data into the banks. If they were clever, they could have installed a few VIs to renew lost data, in case of a power outage or, in this case, a hacker destroying unwanted data."

"That's fascinating." Kaiden said. "But can you fix it?"

As soon as he had uttered those words, the train slowly started moving after a loud crunching noise. I turned to face the humans, beaming.

"It's already done!" I proudly said. "It was an easy fix, really. I just had to, as you could put it in everyday terms, 'Throw away the trash' that was cluttering the system."

Kaiden smirked again, an action he seemed to become more and more comfortable doing around me, while Ashley just nodded.

"You seem to be good with Tech, Dom." Kaiden observed. I felt a bit of pride at receiving my statement that I grinned when I responded.

"Yeah, I'm one of the best on my home ship. Maybe even in the entire Flotilla…" I realized I was boasting a bit too much and started rubbing my neck awkwardly. "At least it makes up for my disgraceful lack of skill regarding mechanics…"

"Nevertheless," Kaiden said. "It's a good skill to have. Especially during this mission."

"About Saren, what's our plan? How are we going to stop him from getting to the beacon?" Ashley asked him. I decided to reply, since I knew the answer.

"The beacon is at least 4 meters tall, maybe more. Plus, it probably weighs several tons. Even with a few minute's head-start, there's no way he can steal the beacon before we get there."

"There, we catch him red-handed and turn him into the council." Kaiden pounded his fist into his palm, to emphasize his point.

I suddenly had a disturbing thought. _I didn't think about it before but…it does seem like his style._ "What if…his goal isn't to secure the beacon, but to destroy it?" I turned to Kaiden. "Also, I'm pretty sure Powell described his skin, thus his hands, as grey."

Kaiden stifled another snicker while Ashley rolled her eyes. "To be caught red-handed means to be caught in the act." She explained, seemingly calmer than before. "Like, you know, to be caught with blood on your hands after a murder."

"But either way…" Kaiden interjected. "It's an ancient Prothean artifact. Those things have lasted Tens of thousands of years, so it must be extremely hard to destroy. We'll have time to catch up to him."

With that, he turned to face the opposite way, watching the sidelines of the tracks for Geth activity, surely. Ashley gave me a…weird glance before sitting down on a nearby crate, examining her weapons.

 _Oh wait, that reminds me!_ I took my Sniper Rifle from my back and quickly took out the used thermal clip that had almost cost me my life. Those innovative cartridges are extremely useful, but sometimes they can get me into easily avoidable situations. Considering my rifle was the only known gun that used them, I could have easily gotten a different one, able to recharge automatically. But then I would have to get rid of this one…

I absentmindedly started brushing off some dirt from its side. Even though I knew it was there, I was surprised to uncover a small bronze plaque on its side. I read the inscription, even though I already knew what was written on it.

 _Vad'Quijot vas Rayya_

 _For his service in the Main Flotilla Marine Corps_

I felt sudden nostalgia, remembering how I learned to shoot. How I held the gun wrong the first few times, how I accidently dropped it on my foot once, how my father laughed while I tried to find a comfortable position to look through the scope…

I looked up at the burning landscape rolling by and was soon filled with hatred. A burning hatred for that grey and blue monster of a turian. I was not only ready to meet him, finally confront him about that special day that happened six years ago, but turn him in and expose him for the killer that he truly is.

With a new fire alight inside me, I took out a fresh thermal clip and clicked it into place. I then just watched the scenery pass by quickly, leaning against my most prized and cherished possession.

 _Am I ready?...No, but I don't have a choice now…_

* * *

After about ten minutes of watching hills roll by, covered in soot and debris, I saw something extremely disturbing up ahead. I got up from the crate I was leaning against to stare blankly at the sight. I heard Kaiden and Ashley walk up behind me. Ashley let out a little gasp while Kaiden whispered "My God…".

We were almost at the end of the tracks, passing by what used to be living quarters for the dock workers and their families. I say used to because now it was almost unrecognizable. The walls of the buildings were charred and burned. Destroyed junk and Tech was littered everywhere, as if a wild animal had come crashing through, leaving nothing behind.

Yet there were things behind. Bodies, both on the ground and impaled on spikes, completed the disturbing scene. I felt my hand clenched when I saw a small body on the ground, its arm outstretched towards another, immortalizing the young human's final moments. _This is all because of him… I know it!_

My mind was on fire now. I felt that bringing Saren to justice wouldn't be good enough now, a view that I apparently shared with one of my companions.

"Jesus Christ…" Ashley muttered, before clenching her teeth. "Urgh! We need to get to Saren now and take him down! That reptile son of a bitch won't know what hit him before he's burning in Hell."

Kaiden sternly looked at Ashley. "Chief, calm down. Our job here is to secure the beacon and, if possible, capture Saren. He can't be punished by the council if we turn in his Ashes in a shoe box." Ashley was still frowning, but Kaiden ignored her and turned towards me.

"Are we almost there, Dom?" he asked. I wasn't listening, though. My eyes had been locked on a fire still burning inside one of the settlements. Through the flames, I could have sworn to see a familiar silhouette, fighting to douse the fire. _Slowly but surely, the figure noiselessly fell to its knees, not able to take the smoke and heat._

" _Dom!"_

As soon as the figure slumped down completely, I snapped back to reality. I quickly faced Kaiden.

"Uh…Yeah. In fact, there it's right over there." I pointed behind the biotic, who squinted at the bridge in the distance. He was obviously thinking about a plan: I had to get my head in the game. With one last look at the fire, I grabbed my rifle and took position next to Ashley and Kaiden , who were looking at our destination.

When we got closer, I saw that there were Geth patrolling the bridge, as if they were standing guard. Even from this distance I could see that most of the troopers only had assault rifles, just like most of those I had faced up until now. I was about to say that the opposition would be no problem, but I caught a glimpse of another Geth trooper right next to the tracks.

I nudged Kaiden and pointed at the trooper, who was crouched over a strange, pill-shaped machine. On its back, clasped to its pale, lightly armored body, was unmistakably a rocket launcher. It was pulling wires in and out, reconnecting some and cutting others, when it felt us coming. It quickly stood up and ran up the steps to the bridge stretching over the train tracks, where the other Geth were getting ready for us as well.

As soon as it ran away, revealing to us the entirety of the strange contraption, I heard Kaiden pull out his assault rifle and Ashley curse loudly behind me.

" _Shit!"_ She drew her own rifle, readying herself for a fight. "That place is swarming with Geth!"

"That's not all…" Kaiden informed us solemnly. He pointed at the pill-shaped object on the side of the tracks. "That machine is some kind of bomb." He faced me. "Looks like your assumption was right: Saren does want to destroy the beacon and he has the firepower to do it."

 _A bomb?! Oh crap…okay, don't panic…_ I immediately started thinking of a plan, with the bridge filled with synthetics and bombs drawing ever closer. I brought my hand to my chin and absentmindedly tapped at my visor, something I do a lot when brainstorming.

"Do you two know how to disarm bombs?" I asked.

Kaiden replied. "I do. I'm not the best mechanic, but I have an above-average level of physical Tech."

I nodded and smiled. "Perfect! Then we have a simple plan." I pointed at Kaiden. "You disarm the bomb while Ashley and I cover you. We move as a group to each and every bomb and take care of them."

When they didn't object, I grabbed my sniper rifle and waited for the train to stop at the docks. _Why aren't the Geth shooting at us yet?_ I wondered, blocking out the sounds of Ashley stowing her rifle and cocking her shotgun and Kaiden readying his Omni-tool to assist him in disarming the bomb. I took a deep breath as the train started slowing down.

When it finally crawled to a stop, the Geth started firing at us immediately. The doors opened and we sprinted for the wall the bomb was propped up against. My ears were ringing as I heard my companions fire back at the Synthetics, flashing a grin whenever I heard one cry out in simulated pain.

I got to the bomb first, slamming my back against the wall. As Kaiden crouched down and immediately started pulling wires, aided by is glowing Omni-tool. I felt Ashley's body dive next to me: she had stopped shooting, probably in order to recharge her shotgun. I took this as a queue to start shooting myself.

I brought the barrel of my sniper rifle around the corner, peering through the scope at the Geth. I aimed for the closest one, who was also waiting for its weapons to recharge, probably. I pulled the trigger and the Synthetic fell to the ground. As I felt shots impacting my shield, I quickly switched targets, taking down two more Troopers before I had to duck behind the wall again.

I leant against the wall, quickly stowing away the spent Thermal clip. It only took a quick glance over at Kaiden to figure out that he was almost done. Ashley took my place at suppressing fire as I slinked over towards the Biotic. He got up, pulled out his own assault rifle and informed me of the situation.

"I rooted around the control panel a bit, which is why this took a bit longer than expected." He told me. "I managed to find out that there are three other bombs on the docks. I also found the timer the bombs are all set on. We only have about five minutes to disarm the other three."

"Then there's no time to waste." I nodded, before turning towards Ashley, who had switched to her Assault rifle. She quickly ducked towards me, Kaiden taking her place in knocking out the Geth.

"Okay then." I informed her, reprising once again the role of impromptu commander. "Kaiden says that there are three more bombs here that'll go off in about five minutes. We need to push up those stairs! I suggest you going first with the shotgun, then Kaiden and I take up the rear. From up on the bridge, we head towards the nearest bomb. Got it?"

Surprisingly, she didn't object. All she did was nod and take her position besides Kaiden. I smiled at her complacency as Kaiden ducked behind cover as well. I waited a second or tow for his shields to get steady again before shouting. "Okay Ashley! Go in 3, 2, 1…Go!"

Ashley practically ran up the stairs to the bridge, firing her shotgun at the appropriate times. When she was about a quarter up the steps, I signaled for Kaiden to go as well. I followed him up, shooting at the closest Geth and managing to disable two of them on my way up.

Thankfully, at the top, there was a crate that we could duck behind for cover shielding us from the ever-present, albeit smaller, Geth enemies. I crouched behind the crate in order to regain my breath, before springing up and firing two more shots into two unfortunate Geth heads. When I ducked down again to change thermal clips, I used the small moment of relaxation to look around at the scene, scouting out the location of the other bombs.

We were currently on the right side of the bridge. The entirety of the Geth forces had, for some reason, fallen back to the left side. Behind the small Synthetic army, I saw another pill-shaped bomb, tucked away in a corner of the dock. Behind us, where there was no Geth, we saw two bombs, along with some convenient crates that we could use for cover.

I nudged Kaiden and pointed behind us. When he nodded his approval, I did the same to Ashley.

"I'll stay here for cover: it's a good sniping position. You two go disable those bombs!" I yelled. They both nodded and, with just a few more shots in the Synthetic's direction, they started sprinting toward the machines, leaving me to hold off the Geth.

Immediately after they had left, I got up from my crouching position, slamming the new clip and locked onto a Geth Trooper careless enough to still be out in the open. _Boom, Headshot!_ I smirked as it fell down, before focusing on another, than another. At the fourth Geth I had to duck and reload again, by after a few seconds I was back up and shooting.

After I had gone through my third clip, proud of my shooting abilities, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Kaiden and Ashley moving onto the second bomb. I quickly changed my ammo clip and sprang up to cover them.

Three Geth had noticed them. I had already cut through the enemy forces well enough that there were now only a few left. In a last-ditch effort to stop them from disarming their bombs, they were firing wildly at the two, not even caring about making sure they were safe from my own shots.

I brought the scope up to my visor once more and quickly lodged three shots into the Geth's heads. As soon as I had put the third Trooper out of commission, I noticed another one out of the corner of my eye. It was only about ten feet away, surprisingly.

It was the pale Geth from before, the one that was arming the bombs when we had first arrived. It was slowly walking towards the bomb that my two companions were disarming. It reached its arm behind its back and took the giant weapon it had clasped there. It was a rocket launcher.

I instantly realized the Geth's plan. _It's trying to blow up the bomb manually!_ I had to stop it, both for my teammates and for me. If that bomb would have blown up, the entire docks would be gone, myself included.

I panicked, shooting my rifle without aiming. Luckily, it hit the Geth specialist's hand, making it drop the Launcher. I brought my rifle to my eye in order to finish it off, but when I pulled the trigger, the gun didn't fire: I was out of ammo again.

 _"Kazuat!",_ I swore. I dropped my gun on the crate, only seeing one possible option left. The Geth had bent down and was now picking up the rocket launcher: this was my chance. I vaulted over the crate and ran towards the Specialist, tackling it to the ground, where we both fell with a _CLANG!_

The Rocket launcher spun a few feet away from us, unreachable while we were both wrestling on the floor. The synthetic responded to my tackle immediately by grabbing hold of my wrist, trying to yank my own hands off of it. I had gotten the element of surprise, but I was still without a weapon. I had to improvise.

The Geth found my other wrist and used my fragile position to turn the tables, flipping me over on my back. It let out its trademark garbled growl as it straddled me, holding down one of my arms while the other found its way to my neck.

I felt its three-fingered hand press down on my throat as I struggled. It was going to choke me if I didn't react. I thrashed around, clawing at the Specialist as it held me down.

As my vision started blurring, my free arm found a sharp piece of metal on the ground next to us. It was a piece of the Geth's light armor that I had chipped off when I had shot at him!

Without hesitating, I grabbed the armor piece and, with the last of my strength, slashed at the Geth's arm that was holding me down. It let out a garbled scream of simulated pain as a blue liquid gushed out of the wound, making its grip loosen just enough for me to tear away its arm. I let out a gasp, finally taking air back into my lungs again, as I got up with a jolt, adrenaline pumping through my body. The specialist was knocked back onto the ground, its mind undoubtedly working overtime to deal with my new actions.

Still holding the sharpened piece of armor, I grabbed the Geth by the broken arm and pulled it, flipping it over on its front, making sparks fly from the cut wires as it let out another garbled screech. If I didn't know what it had done to both my people and the colony, I would have felt sorry for it.

On its back leading up to its head was a group of wires that I knew were pretty important. Without a second thought, I brought my foot down onto the Geth's back, making sure it didn't squirm, grabbed hold of the wires with one hand and used the sharp piece of metal to tear each wire one by one. The synthetic was spastic at this point, screeching pathetically as its limbs convulsed and sparks flew from various wires.

It was then that I actually felt a small tinge of guilt. It was very small, yet it was still there. I tried cutting the wires faster, but they were too strong to cut in one single slash. The Specialist had stopped struggling, probably due to a power loss and its screams grew fainter and fainter until its light faded, leaving only a mangled platform behind.

I looked into the Geth's "eye", making sure that it was just a piece of hardware, before my entire body went limp as I let out a long sigh of exhaustion and relief. I collapsed on the ground, closing my eyes for just a second, savoring the fact that I was alive for just another day.

Footsteps running towards me reminded me that there was still a chance my life could end today. I tiredly lifted my head up to see Kaiden running across the bridge, Ashley following him closely. With a groan, I lifted myself up into a sitting position. I noticed that the two weren't shooting anymore, probably meaning that there was no Geth left.

Kaiden didn't stop running when he asked. "Dom? Are you okay?" When he saw me nod a reply, he started sprinting towards the bomb on the other side of the bridge. My eyes widened when I realized that the d job still wasn't done.

"Oh, crap!" I exclaimed, scrambling to get back on my feet. "I forgot about the bombs! How much time do we have left." When I got up, I felt a hand on my shoulder, holding me back rather than comforting.

"Calm down, Quarian!" Ashley said, removing her hand when I turned to face her. "We've got plenty of time. Since you took care of the Geth on this side, we were able to disarm the bombs quickly. Good call, by the way…" She said the last part while gritting her teeth, as if she couldn't bear to say it normally.

I smirked underneath my helmet. "What is this I hear?" I teased, mockingly bringing my hand up to the side of my head, as if I were listening for something. "Ashley Williams giving me, a Quarian, a compliment?"

She pushed past me, not even looking me in the eye. "Don't get used to it..." she muttered. I grabbed my rifle from the crate and followed her, hoping that I hadn't hurt her pride or something.

We walked in silence to the other side. Next to the bomb Kaiden was working hard to disarm, a large opening in the wall led to some sort of balcony. From there, we could see the destroyed landscape perfectly, even though the sight of it still made me clench my fist in anger.

 _It's almost done..._ I reassured myself. _We only have to get the beacon and bring Saren to justice...my works basically done. Although..._

"Hey!" I asked Ashley, who was a few feet ahead of me as we rounded the corner to the Balcony. "Did you see the beacon around here when you were defusing those bombs? I mean, we st-"

I bumped into Ashley, who's military build did not waver against my untrained, scrawny frame. She seemed to have stopped suddenly, staring at something in front of her. Puzzled, I leaned to the side to catch a glance of my own.

"What're you looking a-" The rest of my question was lost as I stood, agape, in front of the Prothean beacon. I had seen it from afar when they had dug it up, but seeing it up close was a different experience altogether.

The beacon was a sleek, black monolith, scraping the skies at about twelve feet tall. It towered over us literally, but it also seemed to release a sort of...energy. It's hard to explain how it felt, you can only understand by _experiencing_ it.

"Woah..." I breathlessly said. "That's...it's..."

I heard footsteps behind me, Ashley already having started to walk over to the beacon for a closer look. I turned to see Kaiden, smirking at the artifact with pride in his eyes.

"This..." he started saying."Is what we came for!"

I smiled at his words, looking back at the beacon. I felt happy, knowing that I had helped out these two strangers.

"Hopefully it'll help humanity get the recognition it deserves!" I happily expressed. Kaiden's own expression faltered as he tore his eyes away from the beacon to look at me.

"Do we really deserve it, though?" He sincerely asked me. "We're still new to the galaxy. Most humans aren't even used to the concept of alien life, yet."

"Pfff!" I snorted. "Every species has people like that! What you lack in experience you guys make up in courage, resourcefulness and, to be honest, a crap-ton of luck!"

My words must have been reassuring him, because his head perked up. He let loose another smile.

"Thank you, Dom." He replied, before frowning again. "Too bad that luck didn't help us nab Saren. He's nowhere to be found..." My heart clenched: Saren was still at large.

Kaiden shrugged it off and looked at the Prothean artifact again. "Oh well, at least we got what we came for." With that, he brought his hand up to his temple. I stood staring at the beacon for a little longer.

It felt as if it was calling for me, beckoning me towards it. I wondered what kind of purpose it served back in the Prothean times. Maybe it was a kind of Comm device, or a vid-player. In any case, it's practically priceless.

I looked at Kaiden again when he started talking. "This is Lieutenant Alenko calling _Normandy,_ do you copy, _Normandy?..._ Yes, we have secured the beacon and are waiting for ex-"

A strained cry made my head spin around to the beacon again. Ashley was now about six feet from it, dragging her feet along the floor. She was waving her arms about, as if she was resisting an invisible pull.

"Chief!" Kaiden yelled, not knowing what to do when put on the spot. I reacted immediately, running as fast as I could towards Ashley, clipping my rifle of my back swiftly.

I grabbed Ashley by the arm and yanked her out of the way. She rolled a few feet away, before scrambling to her feet. I could make out the look of confusion on her face for only a few seconds, before I felt my body get yanked forward, towards the beacon.

I tried struggling, planting my feet into the ground, but it was useless as I was lifted up into the air violently. I gritted my teeth, unable to scream as my body was contracted in place. Then, like a sniper shot to the face, I experienced the most ear-splitting headache.

 _Death, destruction, hills red with blood._

I saw...something, through my daze.

 _Ships coming, planets destroyed, civilizations toppled._

I closed my eyes in pain: it was unbearable. Yet even with my eyes closed, I still saw the horrid vision.

 _Death count rising. Ten thousand, twenty million, eight billion, half of the galaxy._

I wanted it to stop! I tried begging, yelling, but my voice was just a croak in my throat.

 _They cannot be stopped. They will not die. They are coming to harvest us._

I could barely breath, but I still tried to crack open one eye.

 _A giant ship, coming from an unknown and unexplored region of space, let out a shrill metallic cry, booming from across the hills, mountains and plains, cities crumbling in ruins._

 _We are the crops and they are the reapers._

I was torn from the strange vision with an explosion, coming from only a few feet away. Through my half-lidded eyes I saw the beacon was the victim, having self-destructed. In a split-second I received a painful stab in my left shoulder, tearing through my suit already fragile from the Husk attack, before falling to the ground, banging the back of my head on the concrete below.

My ears were ringing and my vision was blurred. I could barely make out a silhouette at my side, crouching over me. I could also hardly hear a vice behind the figure, shouting into his Comm, saying words that I was too weak to understand.

I turned my head slowly to look at my left shoulder. I felt pain, horrible pain, as well as a wet sensation. Sure enough, I saw a piece of shrapnel stuck in my shoulder, my suit slowly taking on a reddish tint. As if it had just happened, the weight of the situation impacted me as I felt my suit automatically pump antibiotics into my system. My muscles relaxed due to the live-saving drugs.

In my last second of consciousness, I felt two arms below me, picking me up. We started moving, my body bobbing up and down with every step they took. I wanted to reach out to that person, ask who they were, but I was too weak to even move.

I blacked out, falling into a hopefully dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait, I had to go to Spain, then school started and...yeah.**

 **Anyways, here you are! The second chapter! Thank you for following and for the two who left reviews without me even having to ask! Thank you so much for your support, Dragon Wyrm and seabo76!**

 **If you want to leave feedback, questions or Death threats in the reviews, don't hesitate to do so! I love interacting with strangers over the internet!**

 **Anyways, till next time!**

 **Next Time:**

 **Dom wakes up, surprisingly, on the _Normandy,_ where he meets new friends and allies. The ship is en route to the Citadel, where Kaiden, Ashley and Dom can bring Saren to justice.**

 **Will they succeed, or will pointless bureaucracy weigh them down? Who jumped in to help Dom when he was dying? Will this have any repercussions on his health? Those questions will be answered in the next Chapter!**

 **The Masked Commander**


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